Dinosaur extinction could be a case of ‘bad timing’

[yuiyoshida]

YUCATAN CRATER:Edinburgh University experts say the asteroid that hit 66 million years ago arrived at a time when biodiveristy loss had weakened ecosystems

Dinosaurs might have survived the catastrophic impact that ended their reign had the devastating asteroid that slammed into the Earth arrived at a “more convenient time,” a scientist has claimed. As a result humans would probably not exist.

The violent collision 66 million years ago, which occurred in the area that is now Mexico, triggered tsunamis across the oceans, caused powerful earthquakes and released enough heat to start many fires.

Material thrown into the air descended as acid rain, and also blocked the sun’s warmth, cooling the Earth temporarily, perhaps by tens of degrees Celsius.

A thick blanket of dust that was thrown up darkened the globe.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2014/07/29/2003596203

[spin]

1. I wonder if we would have ended up with dinosaurs as smart or smarter than ...

we are had the asteroid hit at a more convenient time.

If so these super intelligent dinosaurs would have had a good start on our current civilization and might well have colonies on the moon and Mars by now. They also might have mastered space travel and made it to the stars.

Modern humans have only been around for an estimated 200,000 years. Dinosaurs existed between 230 million and 65 million years ago.

Dinosaur intelligence

Dinosaur intelligence has been a point of contention for paleontologists. Dinosaurs were once regarded as being extremely stupid animals but have largely been appraised more generously since the dinosaur renaissance. This new found optimism for dinosaur intelligence has led to highly exaggerated portrayals in pop cultural works like Jurassic Park. Paleontologists now regard dinosaurs as being very intelligent for reptiles, but generally not as smart as mammals. Some have speculated that if the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event had not occurred, the more intelligent forms of small theropods might have eventually evolved human-like levels of intelligence. Popular misconceptions of dinosaur neurology include the concept of a second brain in the pelvis of stegosaurs and sauropods....emphasis added
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_intelligence